My rating: 4 1/2 stars

An eye-opening portrayal of police corruption viewed from the inside, this book by one of Mexico’s leading authors, conveys the level of fear and paranoia that many Mexicans feel when dealing with the authorities. A frustrated journalist leaves the profession to join the judicial police force, with the intent of gathering first-hand material for the novel he plans to write. His plans change when he comes under the scrutiny of the police chief for his articles that constantly criticized the government. An exciting read.

EVARISTO REYES ES UN PERIODISTA FRUSTRADO QUE ABANDONA LAS SALAS DE NOTA ROJA PARA INGRESAR EN LA POLICÍA JUDICIAL, CON LA INGENUA ESPERANZA DE OBTENER INFORMACIÓN DE PRIMERA MANO Y ESCRIBIR UNA NOVELA DEFI NITIVA SOBRE LA CORRUPCIÓN Y LA INJUSTICIA QUE REINAN EN EL PAÍS. SU PLAN INICIAL SE TRANSFORMA RADICALMENTE CUANDO EL PERIODISTA ROBERTO LIMA ESTÁ EN LA MIRA DEL JEFE POLICIACO DEBIDO A SUS CRÍTICAS CONSTANTES AL GOBIERNO.

My rating – 5 stars

A remarkable novel dealing with the power of the press, elected politicians and the entrenched interests of the “petroleum mafia” in Mexico of the 1980s. An ambitious politician plays on an influential journalist’s feelings for the politician’s wife to take control of valuable property in Tamaulipas and force his way to the table with the big players in the oil industry. Corruption, greed, betrayal and murder are served up compellingly by a great writer. I loved this book.

MORIR EN EL GOLFO ES LA PUESTA EN ESCENA DE UN PLEITO MORTAL. DE UN LADO, LA HERMOSA Y PERVERSA ANABELA GUILLAUMIN Y SU MARIDO, EL DESORBITADO POLITICO FRANCISCO ROJANO. DEL OTRO, UN CACIQUE SINDICAL PETROLERO, LAZARO PIZARRO, ENCARNACION EXTRAORDINARIA DEL MUNDO CORPORATIVO Y AUTORITARIO MEXICANO. EN MEDIO, EL NARRADOR DE LA HISTORIA, UN COLUMNISTA INFLUYENTE, ARRASADO AL PLEITO POR SU VIEJA CUENTA DE AMORES Y AMISTAD CON ANABELLA Y RIOJANO. FRENTE A ELLOS, TESTIGO Y ARBITRO, EL PERSONAJE SIN NOMBRE, JEFE DE LA POLICIA POLITICA DEL PAIS, RESPONSABLE DE LA SEGURIDAD PUBLICA, ADMINISTRADOR DE LAS SOMBRAS Y LOS SECRETOS DEL ESTADO.

My rating: 4 1/2 stars

I’m fascinated that there are so many different takes on the fantasy of meeting your doppelganger. Jose Saramago wrote a book in which the protagonist feels he must kill the doppelganger. I wrote an unpublished novel in which the main character is seduced by his doppelganger into morally questionable actions. José Augustín has an entirely different, highly entertaining and original approach.

Here’s a summary lifted from Amazon: Life with my Widow is a game of mirrors where reality loses its contours as it comes in touch with the intangible and the non-existent comes to life in its very deathbed-a thriller as provocative and funny as it is disturbing and enigmatic. The main character, the husband of an indigenous Oaxaca shamaness, watches an identical man die. As the unknown man draws his last breath, the protagonist of this insightful narrative decides to switch identities. He wants to know what his wife and children will do once he is dead. What he fails to foresee is that he will also inherit the terrible commitments of the man whose identity he has adopted. Winner of the 2005 Mazatlán Literature Prize, Life with my Widow confirms José Agustín as one of the greatest, most original and insightful voices in contemporary Mexican literature, an author in full command of his art.

EN ESTE CUENTO DE BRUJAS UN CINEASTA EXITOSO Y EROTÓMANO,CASADO FELIZMENTE CON LA HERMOSA NIETA DE UNA CHAMANA INDÍGENA DE OAXACA,VE MORIR EN SUS BRAZOS A UN HOMBRE IDÉNTICO A ÉL Y DECIDE IMPULSIVAMENTE INTERCAMBIAR IDENTIDADES.OFICIALMENTE MUERTO,DESEA SABER QUÉ HARÁN SU ESPOSA Y SUS HIJOS.

<a

My rating: 5 stars

Junot Diaz says Solares is one of the best Latin American writers, and this is one of the best books he's read in the last 10 years… I agree.

Description lifted from Amazon: When a young journalist named Bernardo Blanco is killed in the fictional Mexican port city of Paracuán, investigation into his murder reveals missing links in a disturbing multiple homicide case from twenty years earlier. As police officer Ramón “el Macetón” Cabrera discovers, Blanco had been writing a book about a 1970s case dealing with the murder of several young schoolgirls in Paracuán by a man known as el Chacal. Cabrera realizes that whoever killed Blanco wanted to keep the truth about el Chacal from being revealed, and he becomes determined to discover that truth. The Black Minutes chronicles both Cabrera’s investigation into Blanco’s murder and goes back in time to follow detective Vicente Rangel’s investigation of the original el Chacal case. Both narratives expose worlds of corruption, from cops who are content to close the door on a case without true justice to powerful politicians who can pay their way out of their families’ crimes. Full of dark twists and turns, and populated by a cast of captivating—and mostly corrupt—characters, The Black Minutes is an electrifying novel from a brilliant new voice.

Para resolver el asesinato de un periodista en la calurosa ciudad de Paracuán, Tamaulipas, en el Golfo de México, un policía muy poco inteligente debe investigar un crimen ocurrido veinte años antes. Sin embargo, a medida que se sumerge en los bajos fondos del puerto, empieza a dudar de la identidad del asesino que busca. ¿Será el mismo que mató a aquel grupo de niñas a mediados de los años setenta? ¿Fue el narco incipiente? ¿Un miembro de la siniestra y casi invisible policía secreta que asoló México durante decenios? ¿O sus poco honorables colegas en la comandancia? Por extraño que parezca, el caso parece invocar a la figura del misterioso escritor B. Traven, así como a uno de los mejores detectives de América Latina, el legendario doctor Quiroz Cuarón, a un cantante de música tropical con cara de angelito, a un elemento del FBI con peculiares ideas sobre los extraterrestres y a un inspector desaparecido en tenebrosas circunstancias. Entre el testimonio de un ex policía con un sentido del humor negrísimo y el de un tímido jesuita aficionado al vodka y a la mentira en dosis elevadas, el detective deberá explorar el enigma de su misión, con un agravante: la vida, en esta ciudad tropical, funciona como una oscura sinfonía donde todos los integrantes del coro tienen deudas con la ley.